I started a thread for #39 last week too and here I am for the newest issue.
I know text shows up on the main page so I will try to keep spoilers out of the first few lines. Anyone read this yet?
I just finished and huh? First, I recognize that this is part one of a story and surely more will be revealed but I am even more confused about continuity than I was before.
This is supposed to be a prequel to Snyder’s JL run and it takes place after City of Bane and Superman revealing his identity. So when the heck does JLSnyder take place? Isn’t Lex currently Apex Lex in the Superman storyline? (I don’t read Bendis). Back to Batman. On one page he’s talking to Alfred via video and literally on the next page Superman mentions Alfred passing away.
Ok. Since this is part 1 there could easily be a whammy to the story and maybe nonlinear timelines but it all seems concurrent based on plot and dialogue.
It seems like City of Bane and (for lack of a title) Identity happened. There isn’t enough info to tell if this is pre-JLS or mid-JLS. Costumes are all different so I am guessing this is after Totality and Drowned Earth which means the end of Doom War hasn’t happened yet in comparison to the current events of the individual books?
Sadly, I am more inclined to believe sloppy editing than master plan but hopefully I’m proven wrong.
I desperately want a graph explaining continuity.
Regarding Alfred’s appearance, my guess is that that may have been a virtual simulation of him.
As I read the issue and saw that scene, I was thinking this arc would take place before City of Bane. Later on, Superman and John are talking about Superman’s reveal, so that puts the story squarely in the very latest goings-on.
I haven’t heard of Venditti’s run being a prequel to anything. I didn’t read Doomwar, so my understanding is that Invasion of the Supermen takes place after it.
Snyder on Twitter mentioned that Venditti’s stories take place before his run, which is where all the confusion is coming from.
That Alfred panel, given its different lighting and border type, I understood to be a flashback/memory, contrasting how things used to be to how they are now.
I looked again and see what you mean. Even the panel is a different shape.
“Suit me up, Uncle Alfred!”
Thumbs down. Thumbs down!!
Well, I was this close to writing that he was likely a “virtual simu-simulation”, but I thought “nah”.